Dec. 28, 2002
Hanover, N.H. – It was a case of too little too late as Notre Dame fell behind Dartmouth 4-0, cut the lead to 4-3 and 5-4 but fell to the Big Green by a 6-4 score in the opening round of the Ledyard National Bank Classic at Dartmouth’s Thompson Arena.
The Irish will play on Sunday, Dec. 29th in the third-place game versus the University of Vermont at 4:00 p.m. Vermont was shutout in its opening round game, 5-0, by the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
The loss snapped Notre Dame’s three-game winning streak and dropped the Irish to 8-7-2 on the season. Dartmouth improved to 7-4-0 on the season and has won seven straight games at Thompson Arena.
“I was disappointed with the way we played tonight,” said Irish head coach Dave Poulin.
“We showed how we can play later in the game, but we have to learn to play 60 minutes to win games. You can’t be happy with a game like this on the whole. We showed character in coming back on the road, but we never should have put ourselves in that position.”
Dartmouth shook off the effects of the Christmas break quicker than the Irish did as the Big Green took a 4-0 lead just 2:32 into the second period after dominating the opening stanza.
The Big Green started fast and peppered Irish goaltender Morgan Cey with 21 shots in the first period and the score could have been worse without the sophomore goaltender making several big stops.
Dartmouth took a 1-0 lead at 3:05 of the first period on defenseman P.J. Martin’s first goal of the season. Center Mike Turner outmuscled the Irish defense in the right wing corner and got the puck back to Martin at the right point. The senior blueliner’s low shot found it’s way through a maze of players in front and slid by Cey inside the far post.
Turner collected his first goal of the season at 7:44 when he slid a backhander past Cey’s stick and the far post with Pete Summerfelt and Jason Costa assisting on the play.
From there, Cey held off the Dartmouth attack stopping a 2-on-0 breakaway with just under 10 minutes left in the stanza. Defenseman Sean Offers broke out of the penalty box and took a long lead pass to go in on Cey alone. The sophomore goalkeeper stopped Offers’ shot and a trailing Dartmouth player’s rebound attempt.
After scoring twice in the first period, Dartmouth would add two quick second-period goals to build the lead to 4-0 by the 2:32 mark. Kent Gillings picked up an errant clearing pass at the top of the left wing circle and zipped a wrist shot over Cey’s glove for a 3-0 lead.
Thirty-three seconds later with the Big Green buzzing around the Irish net, Jarrett Sampson upped the lead to 4-0 when he tucked a rebound past Cey at the 2:32 mark.
The Irish were able to get back in the game via a five-minute power-play that came after Dartmouth’s Pete Summerfelt was given a major penalty for hitting Aaron Gill from behind.
Brett Lebda scored the first of two Irish power-play goals on the five-minute major when he snuck in from the left point and fired a Yan Stastny centering pass behind Dartmouth’s Nick Boucher at 5:08 for his third goal of the year.
Rob Globke cut the lead to 4-2 at 7:51 of the period when he took a pass from Evan Nielsen deep in his defensive zone, raced up the left side and laced a hard wrist shot over Boucher’s glove for his 15th goal of the season.
“The power play was big for us. We were able to capitalize on the major penalty and get back in the game,” said Poulin.
Notre Dame cut the lead to 4-3 at the 10:40 mark of the second period when freshman center Matt Amado shot was stopped in front by Boucher, but Jake Wiegand pounced on the rebound for his second goal of the season.
Dartmouth answered back just 35 seconds later when Gillings scored his second of the game when he drilled a slapshot past Cey at 11:15 to restore the lead to 5-3.
The Irish continued to apply the pressure in the final period but could score just once as Wiegand teammed up with Tim Wallace to score his second of the night at 12:22 of the third.
Wallace was able to work the puck loose behind the Dartmouth goal and slid the puck out to Wiegand all alone in the slot. The senior left wing flipped the puck under the crossbar for the first multiple-goal game of his career.
Notre Dame finished by outshooting Dartmouth 42-39 in the game. Cey finished the night with 33 saves while Boucher made 38 for the Big Green.
IRISH HOCKEY NOTES:
** With Saturday’s win, Dartmouth now owns a 2-0-0 record versus the Irish. Notre Dame is 1-0-0 in its only meeting with Vermont.
** With his second-period goal, Rob Globke extended his current scoring streak to a season-high seven games (8-6-14). That equals his career high which was set during the 2000-01 season.
** With an assist on Globke’s goal, defenseman Evan Nielsen now has points in five straight games (2-7-9).
** The Ledyard National Bank Tournament is the 25th in-season tournament that the Irish have played in. They own a 16-31-2 record all-tim in those tournaments.
GAME SUMARY: 1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (8-7-2) 0 3 1 4
Dartmouth (7-4-0) 2 3 1 6
Scoring
First Period: DC: P.J. Martin 1 (Mike Turner, Jason Costa), 3:05; DC: Turner 1 (Pete Summerfelt, Costa), 7:44.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; DC: 3 for 6 minutes
Second Period: DC: Kent Gillings 3 (unassisted), 1:57; DC: Jarrett Sampson 2 (Eric Przepiorka, Chris Snizek), 2:32; ND: Brett Lebda 3 (Yan Stastny, Connor Dunlop), PPG, 5:08; ND: Rob Globke 15 (Evan Nielsen, Morgan Cey), PPG, 7:51; ND: Jake Wiegand 2 (Matt Amado, Lebda), 10:40; DC: Gillings 4 (Max Guimond, Sean Offers), 11:15.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; DC: 2 for 15 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Wiegand 3 (Tim Wallace), 12:22; DC: Mike Murray 4 (Offers, Nick Boucher), ENG, 19:26.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; DC: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 13 – 15 – 14 – 42
Dartmouth 21 – 13 – 5 – 39
Goaltender Saves:
ND – Morgan Cey (59:33) 19 – 10 – 4 – 33
DC – Nick Boucher (60:00) 13 – 12 – 13 – 38
Power Plays:
ND: 2 for 6
DC: 0 for 3
Attendance: 4,347